Oct. 7 (UPI) — Pope Leo XIV will visit Turkey and Lebanon in late November, his first foreign trip, the Vatican announced Tuesday.
Leo will visit Turkey Nov. 27-30, then go to Lebanon until Dec. 2, a Vatican press release said.
The visit to Turkey will “include a pilgrimage to Iznik on the occasion of the 1,700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea,” said Matteo Bruni, director of the Holy See Press Office said in a statement. He said the itinerary of the Apostolic Journey to Lebanon “will be announced in due course.”
Iznik is the modern name of Nicaea.
Lebanese President Joseph Aoun visited the pope in June and invited him to visit the country. Aoun is a Maronite Christian. The Maronite Church is the largest Christian denomination in Lebanon. It’s an Eastern Catholic, Syriac church, with followers all over the world, but with the highest concentration in Lebanon.
“I thank God for those Christians, Eastern and Latin alike, who, above all in the Middle East, persevere and remain in their homelands, resisting the temptation to abandon them,” Leo said at a pilgrimage to Rome of Eastern Catholics this year, The New York Times reported.
“Christians must be given the opportunity, and not just in words, to remain in their native lands with all the rights needed for a secure existence,” he added.
Benedict XVI visited Lebanon in 2012. Pope Francis said he hoped to visit Lebanon but never did.
